One Beatitude Begets Another

“A beatitude is an attitude that ought to be.”—Pastor Adrian Rogers

When Jim and Ann Marie opened their mailbox one sunny afternoon in Texas, they were humbled and surprised. Inside was a handwritten letter from Joyce Rogers, wife of the late Pastor Adrian Rogers, thanking them personally for their gift to Love Worth Finding (LWF). This gentle act of humility touched them deeply, reinforcing a powerful truth from one of Pastor Rogers’ teachings on a beatitude from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).

Jim and Ann Marie had long admired Pastor Rogers' ability to combine simplicity with deep spiritual truth. Despite three decades as professing Christians, they found themselves spiritually awakened through his sermons. "We’ve learned more in the past eight months than in all 30 years combined," they shared.

Meekness Modeled

Jim and Ann Marie had regularly immersed themselves in Pastor Rogers’ messages, discovering truth presented boldly but simultaneously gently—meekly—with a strength fully submitted to the Holy Spirit’s control.

Adrian Rogers' sermons inspired them, they said, through stories that applied the Bible directly to daily life. In his teaching on “meekness,” for instance, Pastor Rogers pointed out that a strong stallion is “meeked” when it comes under the control of an experienced trainer.

Meekness Remembered

The intentionality and humility evident in Joyce Rogers’ personal response mirrored the meekness they’d seen typified in Pastor Rogers' ministry, and this deeply influenced Jim and Ann Marie. Inspired by this example, they began to purposefully incorporate the Rogers’ gentle yet firm approach into their interactions, especially with their own family. They have made it a practice to download sermon outlines from the LWF website and present key points to spiritually nurture their loved ones in future generations, paying forward the same spirit of meekness that has drawn them deeper into their own faith.

Inheriting the Earth

The story of these two couples, separated by time and space but united by their humble submission to God, vividly demonstrates the meaning of inheriting the earth—a spiritual inheritance that began in this life on this Earth and will last eternally in the “new heaven and the new earth”. (See Revelation 21:1-5.)